


Confessions

by cosmogyrals



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-05
Updated: 2013-03-05
Packaged: 2017-12-04 09:12:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 475
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/709068
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cosmogyrals/pseuds/cosmogyrals
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Who else knows about this?" Tom asks.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Confessions

"Who else knows about this?" Tom asks, leaning forward over the table, his mug of tea forgotten. Martha's curled up in her chair, nearly shrinking away from him, except she's not, she's shrinking away from the nightmares, from the thought of being alone, because she _knows_ that Tom isn't going to stay. She can see it in his eyes - he thinks she's mad, or, worse, he _believes_ her.

She twists her ring on her finger, staring down at it as tears blur her eyes. "My mum and dad and Tish - they were there. Jack Harkness. Lucy Saxon." The Doctor, she adds silently. She doesn't know why she won't say it out loud; maybe because he doesn't seem to fit on the list of the walking wounded with the rest of them.

"And none of you have sought any sort of...help." The disbelief is evident in Tom's voice, and she finally looks up at him.

"Who would believe any of us? UNIT's already got Lucy locked up - and anybody else would have her in a straitjacket." Actually, Martha thinks that Lucy probably _should_ be in a straitjacket, but she's biased. " _You_ don't believe it," she accuses him.

"I think it sounds mad," he agrees. "Something like a...shared hallucination."

Martha nearly wants to punch him then - he _knows_ aliens exist, _knows_ that unusual things can happen - he's seen the stars go out and the Earth be invaded by Daleks, but he can't believe _her_ story? There's no logical scientific explanation behind it; it just _is_. A scientific explanation would make _her_ feel better, would allow her parents to seek the help that they need, but it just isn't _there_.

"And then you decided to phone me up because I saved your life in this...alternate universe...and you hung up on me? It doesn't make any sort of sense, Martha."

She slips the ring off her finger, turning it over in her hand. She never meant for him to find out like this - never meant to let him know about the nightmares that made her wake up screaming in the middle of the night - never intended to tell him, really. She knows now that trying to keep it a secret was futile all along.

Martha places the ring on the table between them, then stands and slips on her shoes. Only iron self-control born in the face of staring down the Master keeps her from dissolving into tears as she leaves the flat.

The street is dark and deserted, the wet pavement shining in the streetlights, and she pulls her mobile out of her purse, staring at it for a long moment. She _wants_ to call him, but she's stronger than that - she doesn't need to go running back to him. She has her own life now, even if she's just lost part of it.


End file.
